Bryce Harper has attempted to keep his profile low so far this spring.

VIERA, Fla. — This may qualify as the biggest news of Nationals camp so far: Bryce Harper has deleted his Twitter account.

OK, so perhaps that's not as significant as Ryan Zimmerman's $100 million contract extension or the open competition for roster spots. But given the attention Harper had been getting not only for his on-field performance but also for his online personality, it's sure to catch a few people by surprise.

Why did Harper delete the account last night?

"I just wanted to," the 19-year-old outfielder said. "I was done."

Harper wasn't interested in providing more details than that, though it's perhaps no coincidence he halted his tweeting less than 48 hours after the Nationals held a full-team meeting on PR and media relations,Read more »

Good move. Harper gets way too much attention for where he is in his career, and he was in serious danger of destroying his public image in Washington with his immature public comments. What a player says in public defines them and once spoken cannot be recovered. You can't be held accountable for what you don't say. Keep it to yourself and play baseball until you can prove yourself in the big leagues.

Holy hashtag! No more Harper tweets!?Oh well, this kid is gonna do great things on the field and soon, whether or not he shares his thoughts via Twitter along the way. I am betting he reconsiders before season's end. We'll see.dfh21

I never saw the first immature tweet from Bryce. Now Logan Morrison, not so much. Bryce has it all over him when it comes to maturity.Bryce's only problem was making statements that can look outrageous and immature when taken out of context. And todays press loves taking things out of context then watching them blow up in the blog world as the comment takes a life of it's own.

JamesFan said… Good move. Harper gets way too much attention for where he is in his career, and he was in serious danger of destroying his public image in Washington with his immature public comments. What a player says in public defines them and once spoken cannot be recovered. You can't be held accountable for what you don't say. Keep it to yourself and play baseball until you can prove yourself in the big leagues. February 29, 2012 9:50 AM Yah, kind of like Feel Wood and his Nazi comparisons yeaterday.A long time employee at ESPN lost his job recently for a Jeremy Lin comment and others who are too stupid to know that the spoken or written word can hurt even when its your 1st Amendment rights can have a lasting effect.Bryce Harper didn't realize how deep burgundy and gold is in Washington. He may have lost some fans but I give him a pass. He is 19. Feel Wood doesn't get a pass in my book.

It's funny. It's like the public/media (myself included) were being a sort-of extension of the clubhouse when it came to following the unwritten rules. He was getting a public smackdown not just for the tweets themselves, but also for extending his public persona a little beyond his position. But he didn't seem to be getting the hint. Now that he's in camp and got the message from whoever (Rizzo, DJ, media consultant, players, whoever), he's listening. I'm so glad! He's got all kinds of time to reveal the real him.

First off, I will miss his tweets, I never saw any harm in them (but then again, I am not a Redskins fan). and NatsJack.. totally agree on Morrison.And BOYS, if you start on the Nazi comment, name calling, trash talking today, the Chicks will take over and start the clothing, facial hair choices, favorite movie stuff, and general stuff that we like (again) just to get you to stop.You have been warned.

Tweeting is narcissism for the masses, on a global. It's the last thing that ought to be on Harper's mind, let alone auto-inflating his ego. Glad he's done with it, hope it lasts a while. Let him concentrate on his next at bat, not his next bon mot.

This has nothing to do with maturity, per se. And said discussions are tedious.Harp is merely a typical member of his generation, that is far more communicative than past generations. Having said that, Harp also realizes that he's here to play baseball, and anything else is a distraction–including tweets. His tweets were fine; it was the media that tried to make more out of them than was necessary–and hence the distraction. Maybe a lot of other people should 'grow up' first, and set the example for Bryce Harper.

No Nats are tweeting at all now after the Davey speech, Mark can you ask Storen, Clippard, Jackson, Strasburg, et al why they stopped tweeting too (although they have not deleted their accounts like Bryce).

Is there such a thing as context with "Tweeter"? I'm thinking not so much. Seems like a wise decision to me. MichelleS, I can take one for the team and discuss Nats fashion if needed, but no pink hats for me. Could also discuss sappy baseball flicks.

@Theophilus – spot on. The problem with Twitter is people just write down and send whatever pops into their head without reflecting first upon how it comes off. Someone mentioned the tweets being taken out of context–well, it is pretty hard to provide any context whatsoever when there are such a tiny number of characters available for any given thought. I'm glad Harper is off of it, because it was probably just a matter of time before he said something truly embarrassing and career damaging, like so many other people (and not just 19-year-old athletes) have already.

Mick: If / when Ryan Z is moved to 1B, LaRoche by then is no longer a Nat.And Rendon ain't gonna be in a Curly-W soon enough that it makes any sense to speculate on a lineup with him. If Desmond is a good lead off hitter, why would moving him to CF make any sense? To make room for Rendon? That cart is way ahead of the horse. How about making room for Brian Goodwin?

Mick.. LaRoche is only under contract this through this year (he has an option for next year), So there is not a log jam at 1B or at least until they figure out what to do with CF and the impact that has on Morse.

Mick, Rendon isn't coming to the majors for at least a year and a half and by then LaRoche will be long gone. Best case scenario: by July 2013 Rendon is a huge prospect almost major league ready and the Nats trade him for a big star (last piece of the puzzle) because the star's team is out of it and they are rebuilding.

Moving Desmond to CF constitutes an experiment and this club is well beyond having to experiment now. If they even had a thought about such aove (and if you've listened to Davey, they haven't) it would have started well before now.

Mick said… NatsJack: I know that but he is the type of athlete that could play CF, that is my point.You apparently missed Riggleman's Desmond in right field experiment. It wasn't pretty. (Although it was better than his Guzman in right field experiment, but that ain't sayin' much.)

I never saw the first immature tweet from Bryce. Now Logan Morrison, not so much. Bryce has it all over him when it comes to maturity.LoMo? Actually David Price is pretty funny in the way he responds to fans but have to admit where LoMo is patronizing and at times obnoxious Price is always upbeat and positive. Honestly, it looks to me like its mostly women trying to jump a major league ballplayer … ~laughing~ … onecan only imagine what Harper was getting …All I know is that I follow his brother and sister as well. They are a great family and I agree I haven't seen one tweet from Harper that was worth any of this hoopla! Totally solid upbringing and loving family … hopefully he doesn't lose that when he gets under the major league lights. His family is well worth more than 1,000,000 Yankee games in right field … ~laughing~ he should be commended and congratulated for that …

Desmond to CF? Not gonna ever happen.People hate the Desmond bashing in here, but the reality is that this nice, hard-working guy with big talent has real holes in his game and he has real problems in terms of his viabilaity as a MLB player.CF? Unless Ian can hit a lot better than he has to date, he's not a guy who can play any position but SS (need power for a corner, generally need OBP skills in CF, not to mention the glove work in CF being very important — he has no experience in CF and among the worst OBP skills in baseball). In order to play SS (2B might be an option, but not for the Nats as that is treading water to move him there now) he needs to make the plays with the glove at SS. Desmond has never been great with the glove, and he has been awful at times, and he has only had moments of brilliance with the bat. He can survive as a glove first SS in MLB, but he needs to find the glove consistently in order to do that. I am not sure that he can do it as he's had a lot of opportunity and it has not happened yet. The Nats are nearing the end of the line with Demsond unless he shows up and wows them from day 1 in 2012. They have other options and now that they are looking to win so they will have to go to Plan B if Ian does not perform.

Desmond to CF? Not gonna ever happen.If he doesn't hit he could end up as the UTL with Lombardozzi starting. And then there's Rendon + (Rice college teammate) Hague + Kobernus all three at Harrisburg this season at some point.There is depth Keith Law … perhaps not as much as there was in terms of starting pitching but positionally its better than it has been since the Nats moved to town.

And don't forget LoDuca in LFIt was Acta who did that, not Riggleman. And the reason was to get both LoDuca's and Flores's bats in the lineup at a time when the offense was decimated by injury. Also, LoDuca had played left field before in his career, multiple times. This is a far cry from what Riggleman did with Desmond and Guzman, basically having a "brainstorm" and then throwing it against the wall to see if it would stick. Yet another reason Davey is a better manager than Riggleman. Davey would never set a player up for failure like Riggleman did.

I'll bet Harper got the message that to make the club, Rizzo will look at on the field and off the field behavior. So he decided to quit 'Tweeter' to take away one reason for the Nats to start him in AAA, not really because he saw the light in the PR briefing. I am just guessing, obviously, but if he renews it once he is sent down, it might have some legs as a theory.I think Werth will do fine as a CF. I worry about whether all the extra running a CF does will cause him to wear down or maybe get injured more easily, but if he does it for only 1/2 a season or so, he should be fine.

Sunderland: Desmond would have to perform very well AND win the All Star popularity contest (against Tulo, Reyes, Rollins, Castro, Dee Gordon, etc.), neither is looking likey. Let's be frank — he's just not a good player.In fact, he's arguably the worst everyday SS in the NL. He's an anchor for the club and not in the good way. Nats Insiders can hate on this comment all they want but Desmond is the glaring weak link on this club and Rizzo needs to dump him sooner than later. Comack and Zuckerman can gush all they want about Ian being a club darling. The stats over this kind of sample size do not lie. He stinks in most facets of the game and there is really no good reason anyone should expect him to do anything else but continue to stink.

NatsJack,'Rendon will be in Harrisburg and a September call up. Sorry jd.And what do you not understand about Werth moving to CF when Bryce gets called up the end of April?' I disagree. I think Rendon starts in Potomac and does not come up this year. It took Ackley 2 years and he's no worse than Rendon. I also don't love the idea of a 33 year old corner outfielder as the solution to the CF problem and I think an outfield of Morse,Werth and Harper is weak defensively.

Rendon at 2nd – brilliant idea. Let's take a kid who has never played on the right side but has had a history of ankle injuries and put him in position for every aggressive player trying to break up a double play slide into those ankles.

Zim's throwing issues most likely are behind him. They stemmed from his abdominal injury and recovery. You can't presume his throwing woes are with him forever any more than I can presume he'll hit 78 HR's this year.

Your tweets have narcissist written on them. You'll never make it to the bigs with narcissistic tweets. Think classy, you'll be classy. If you hit 20 homeruns in the show, you can bring back the narcissistic tweets and the press'll think you're colorful. Until you hit 20 in the show, however, it means you are a narcissist.

"In fact, he's arguably the worst everyday SS in the NL. He's an anchor for the club and not in the good way."To add a little statistical information to the Desmond discussion – in 2011, his worst season offensively of his two+ in the big leagues, Desmond ranked 8th among NL shortstops in OPS. Is he great? No. Is he "the worst everyday SS in the NL." Clearly no as well.Eye balling his defense I would put his glove in the middle of the group as well – good range and arm, too many careless mistakes. I for one am hopelessly "old school" in my rejection of the advanced defensive stats.

jd…. it's not what you and I think. It's what Rizzo, Davey, Roy Clark and Bob Boone think.They see Rendon as AAA ready but are starting him at Harrisburg.And Davey is working with him at second base, the last position Rendon played in the field in college.

An outfield of Morse, Werth and Harper could 75+ home runs.An outfield of Barry Morse, Mary Worth (sorry), and Bryce Harper could hit 75. Maybe not this year, but still.And am I the only one who finds the juxtaposition of "my first dead-ball era game" reminiscences with "Hey, you kids, get off teh Tweeter!" funny?

N.Cognito,I agree but the reason I think it's significant now is that in my opinion if you put Rendon at 2nd and start him in Harrisburg he will make tons of erros (new position), possibly reinjure his ankle.If he struggles in the field he is more than likely going to struggle at the plate. I think that if the Nats want to build his value for themselves or as a trade chip their best bet is to let him play his natural position (he is a very good defensive 3rd baseman) and to start him at a level where he is likely to have success; you can always move him up if he is dominating at a given level. You never want to have to move someone down because they are over matched.

"You can't presume his throwing woes are with him forever any more than I can presume he'll hit 78 HR's this year."Zim has had throwing problems and not just last year (and even when he was back from injury and supoosedly healthy he was still tossing moon balls across the diamond), but Zim has never hit 78 HR's in a year, of course, so we can make the former presumpiton a little easier than the latter.Seriously, can he throw overhand? If not, then he's a 1B.

Wait a minute–something just occurred to me–if Harper really has stopped tweeting, and not just changed accounts to something less public, all that conversation has to go somewhere. Are we about to gain a new Anon with great inside information? Watch the skies!

+4:Don't make me open up the can of nasty Ian Desmond stats and stink up the blog.Nats management is delusional. He needs to be in the minors figuring out how to hit and field and recognize pitches. Even then he would not be a star in AA ball. He's bad, objectively bad.

NatsJack in Florida said… jd…. it's not what you and I think. It's what Rizzo, Davey, Roy Clark and Bob Boone think. Jack, why do you keep saying things like this? Isn't anyone allowed to express a strong opinion or make a criticism here without being reminded like a school child that what they say will actually have no effect on what happens on the field? Everyone knows that. So what? Your reports and commentary from Viera are welcome, but lots of us don't appreciate the holier (and smarter) than thou attitude. Just because you are down there doesn't give you the right to dismiss anyone you disagree with.

I think NatsJack's making the central point, and a valuable contribution of valid information. I could argue moving Zimmerman to center field, and maybe enjoy doing it, but it would be silly. If you're going to make a serious, if academic, suggestion, it should be based on facts, not fantasy, and the #1 fact is, the club makes those decisions, and no amount of anything in here has any actual effect on the field. He's not dismissing anyone, he's just pointing out facts to support his assertions. I value them, speaking strictly for me.

Anonymous said… 1:43 PMAs it has been said, this is Desmond's make or break season. I say Desmond will have a .400 OBP as lead off leading into the All Star game, make and start in the 2012 All Star Game. I didn't say he would be voted in by the fans. And things happen to the starters before All Star games that allow non-voted starters to start. Wait n' see. I've never been wrong…

Sec3……thanks but the Desmond to CF thing got me going when it's been stated by Davey himself that that is not going to happen. The mere fact that Desmond hasn't so much as shagged flies in the outfield…..and I mean ever…..in ST….should account for something.And you're right about making the central point. I'm not shy and don't mind asking these guys questions down here and when I ask something that's even a slight bit off the teams program I get an earfull and it's not fun. But I take it and go back to quietly observing until I see something else that arouses my curiosity. I'll ask another question when the opportunity arises and if what I ask indicates a prudent observation I get confiming dialogue. If not I get another scathing retort.I don't take it personally. After all this is a lifetime proffession for these guys and I'm merely feeding my passion for the game of baseball. I guess what I'm trying to say, if anyone thinks I'm opinionated, then they need to talk to the guys whose opinions really matter.

I agree that an OF of Morse/Werth/Harper would be below average defensively. The only recent MLB OF I can think of that was worse might have been the Cardinals OF in 2011 (Matt Holliday, John Jay, Lance Berkman). They were pretty bloody awful. No wonder that team never went anywhere!

Anonymous said… ….lots of us don't appreciate the holier (and smarter) than thou attitude. FWIW, that's the reason I post as anonymous and not under my sign on most of the time. The times I do post under my name I have been told why my opinions are wrong and made to feel sort of stupid. Many of you on this board do act like Anonymous 1:45 says. I value many of your opinions including Nats Jack and Steve M. I always love how Jane B and Michele S are always so upbeat and positive. But sometimes you guys can get a little ugly and cruel to people. And regardless if you agree or not with someone, it's their opinion and doesn't make it wrong, no matter what you think. Even JayB. No one here is any better than the next person. Just because you are a season ticket holder, you are no more a fan than I am who only goes to one or two games a year. This is the best site for the Nationals online due to Mark and most of you. Sorry off my soapbox now.

Anonymous said… 2:48 PMIt helps to have tough skin on blogs like this. It also helps not to take yourself too seriously even when the name calling brews up. It's unnecessary to name call, but I don't mind being called stupid. We are human being and emotions can run high sometimes, but overall, to every man, woman, and child who have posted here, I would say more than anywhere else, we have been very civil to each other and I commend everyone, ANON & ANON trolls for their civility…

The mere fact that Desmond hasn't so much as shagged flies in the outfield…..and I mean ever…..in ST….should account for something.Sure doesn't account for why Riggleman threw hin into the outfield in games that count, does it?

You know, it's probably a good thing that Rickey Henderson didn't have the Tweeter back in the day. As for Desi and Espi, Comack has a good ST happy-talk story in the Times about Desi's weight, and Mark's last post was the second time I've seen the hamate as a rationale for Espi's problems hitting left handed last year. We'll see about Desi — I agree with others who said this is a make or break year. But I'm rooting for the guy and I hope the weight issue along with a permanent spot at the top of the order does the trick.As for Espi, I'm buying the hamate explanation and moving him up a couple rounds on my fantasy cheat sheet. If the healing bone was preventing him from driving the ball with authority from the left side, which is certainly plausible, then we could be looking at 30HRs.

FWIW…. It looks to me like Rendon's bat is the kind you don't trade for ANYthing, unless you're a tiny market club. I'm sure by the middle of '13, he'll have carved out a spot for himself, whether it's MI, with Desi or Espy in another town, or third, with Zim on the other corner, or manning 1st, himself. The point being, in the pie-in-the-sky possibility of having to many legit starting position players, it just leads to trades that restock the system. But I don't think you can trade THIS bat…

Riggleman threw Desi into the OF in call up games when the Nats were 25 games out and it was never CF, as if it matters.Desmond's cast iron glove might account for some of the extra lbs. Dude cannot field, dude cannot hit well enough to make up for the bad glove — no matter how much Comack loves him.

The comment from NatsJack that I objected to had nothing to do with Desi playing CF. Rather, it was in response to jd @1:06 and 1:11, who opined that Rendon would start at Potomac, not Harrisburg, and that it would be a very bad idea to move Rendon to 2B because of an increased chance of injury. Instead of just disagreeing, or providing additional facts based on his conversations with the brain trust, NatsJack played the "your opinion doesn't matter because Davey, Rizzo, Roy Clark, and Bob Boone will decide" card. That was just unnecessary. Sure, you should have a thick skin when you comment here, but some people, and not just the Anons, engage in gratuitous insults of commenters who have something to contribute even if they aren't as expert as others. It's what leads to some people commenting anonymously, as Anon@2:48 pointed out, and, on a daily basis it seems, to MichelleS threatening to instigate a discussion of hairstyles. Spare us please!

Re: jd and Rendon…sorry. I was at a traffic lite and in a hurry to repond. And what I said was OUR opinions didn't matter. And in a later post I said that the brain trust and situations would dictate where Rendon ended up.But still…. lighten up.